Thursday, July 21, 2011

Smoked Steelhead with Roasted Garlic Sriracha Schmear

I really miss my grill. It was nothing special - a decent Char-Broil propane grill - but it was mine. It was also apparently a fire hazard on my 8th floor balcony. So, it got replaced by an electric unit that tries hard, but isn't quite the same. No fire, no char, and the grill marks kind of just taste burnt. As you might imagine, I was excited to recently discover some indoor options for smoking food. The good people at Nordic Ware have developed the lovely stovetop smoker to your right, and the better people at Amazon sold it to me at 40% off with free shipping. Imagine a sort of Aluminum dutch oven with a high domed lid, smoking rack, and built in thermometer. Visions of brisket and pork butt have been dancing through my head since I purchased it. And of course, it arrived right in the middle of our Meat Hiatus.

Nordic Ware's Stovetop Smoker

If you've been keeping up, you know that as far my dietary habits go, I am a terrible jew. I'm kind of OK with that. However, I happily embrace a number of our finer culinary contributions to the world; pretty much anything you'd find in a Deli, and of course, Lox and a Schmear. Proper lox are cured, cold smoked Salmon (frequently from Nova Scotia), and served on a bagel with cream cheese, chopped onions and capers. Truth be told, I've always been partial to hot-smoked fish. Also, I have no clue how to cure and cold smoke salmon properly. So, Meat Hiatus in effect, I went about breaking in the smoker with some Steelhead Trout I had handy.

Pacific Salmonids, Courtesy
Wikimedia Commons

Steelhead (aka Rainbow, depending on its habitat) Trout looks, cooks, and tastes like salmon, but better. According to Professor Wikipedia, Salmon, Trout and Char comprise various species in the same Family, and in fact the Pacific Salmon and Trout are all in the same Genus. If it's been a long time since High School biology, they're kind of like cousins. See, we're fun and educational here at Balls and Pie.

If you're equipped to smoke anything, this is pretty easy. First you need to Brine your fish filets (I used flash frozen fish, but skin-on filets are probably better). I used proportions suggested by the manufacturer - the end product was a touch briny, I'd back off on the salt next time:

I was a little dubious about the smoker and the sawdusty chips recommend, but it did its job well. After the recommended 15 - 25 minutes, the fish was cooked, but didn't taste very smoked. I left one filet in for about an hour, and was much happier with the results. All in all, I was quite pleased everything made for an excellent sandwich. The onions were a surprise - I'd added them as an afterthought, but they were delicous: sweet with a smokey tang, and I ate half of them while waiting for the fish to chill. Now, if I could only get real bagels in Cleveland...